Community Corner
📚Libraries Meet Demand For Workbooks + New Cross Bay Bridge Bike Lane
The quickest way to get caught up on the most important things happening today in Queens.
Good morning, Queens!🗞
- 📚Good news for people who like to write in library books! Librarians and publishers are responding to the increased demand for workbooks and one-time use resources.
- 🚲 The MTA installed a new bike lane on the Cross Bay Bridge as part of its "strategic action plan" to improve bike and pedestrian access on its bridges.
- 🎀 A historic, first-of-its-kind bill was signed into law that changes insurance coverage to ensure people post-mastectomy have the right to choose either reconstructive surgery, or to go with a flat chest.
☀️ Mostly sunny, breezy and nice. High: 65 Low: 46.
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Here are the top stories in Queens today:
1. Though most of us have been encouraged not to write in library books, the Queensboro Hill branch of the Queens Public Library circulates an array of materials meant explicitly for this purpose. Despite the paradox one-time use resources, such as SAT or ACT prep books present to libraries, they remain an important part of any collection — especially during these last few years when at-home workbooks were an important resource for students and parents during pandemic school closures. "Hundreds of thousands of New York City students live below the poverty line, and schools can't provide these resources, and parents rely on them," said Stephanie Anderson, the assistant director of selection at BookOps, a collections development and distribution service for the New York Public Library and the Brooklyn Public Library. In addition to purchasing test prep and other workbooks, BookOps now also acquires workbooks on topics ranging from financial literacy to student mental health to give away to students through library program.
2. In an effort to improve bike and pedestrian access to the city's toll bridges, MTA officials announced Wednesday that a new bike lane has been installed on the Cross Bay Bridge, which connects to the Rockaways over Jamaica Bay. MTA senior advisor Jessica Mathew said the new Cross Bay Bridge bike lane is temporary, but plans are in the works to make it permanent. Additionally, transit officials are planning to build a new bike lane on the Henry Hudson Bridge linking the Bronx and Manhattan before 2024 and are also looking into making the Triborough Bridge more accessible to cyclists. The MTA's new interest in biking does not come from nowhere — last year state lawmakers passed a law requiring the MTA to develop a "strategic action plan" to improve bike and pedestrian access on its bridges.
3. Queens State Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato and Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky's historic bill, signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Oct. 14., amends insurance coverage to provide people the right to choose how they want their post-mastectomy body to look. The bill, which passed in both houses of the state Legislature with 100 percent unanimous bipartisan support, changes insurance law to ensure that people after a mastectomy have the right to choose either reconstructive surgery, or to go with a flat chest. "In New York we do not just want women with breast cancer to survive, we want them to thrive," Pheffer Amato said. "Women deserve autonomy over how their bodies will look, especially after a mastectomy. Part of this bill is about allowing women to love their bodies." New York is the first state in the country to provide this type of insurance coverage.
4. The 115,000-square-foot IKEA store in Rego Park will close for good this December, less than two years after it opened for business, the company confirmed Wednesday. The massive store — still roughly half the size of IKEA's typical 400,000-square-foot warehouses — opened in January 2021 with efforts to be "the first IKEA of its kind in the United States." The Rego Park store was the Swedish retailer's first location in Queens, and its third location in New York City. The other two stores, located on the Upper East Side and in Brooklyn, will remain open.
🗞 Hungry for more news? 🍴Snack on these headlines:
- Queens man sentenced to state prison for packaging fentanyl, heroin at Ozone Park apartment (Queens Courier)
- Superstorm Sandy legacy: Recovery far from equal on NY shore (AMNY)
- Jackson Heights Co-ops Band Together to Cut Carbon Emissions (Habitat Magazine)
- Toby Ann Stavisky Endorsed By Good Government Group (Patch)
- Councilmember Julie Won says Innovation Queens isn't enough (Spectrum New NY1)
- Ski mask-wearing trio abducts girl, 13, on way home from NYC school (New York Post)
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🗓 To Do Today in Queens:
- Love & Hiking Date For Couples (Self-Guided) (7 a.m.)
- Queens Hospital Center Farmers' Market (8 a.m.)
- Farm Community Volunteer Days (9:30 a.m.)
- Festival of Lights (5:30 p.m.)
- Fall Fest at Culture Lab LIC (6:30 p.m.)
- Queens in Queens: A Very Queer Town Hall (7 p.m.)
- Lioness: Women in Jazz Concert Series (7:30 p.m.)
- Celebrity Impersonation Pageant (7:30 p.m.)
🗣 Queens Chatter:
- 🎃 Happy belated National Pumpkin Day: "It's National Pumpkin Day! While pumpkins are perfect for carving jack-o-lanterns, they are also a delicious source of Vitamin A. Be sure to check out our pumpkin patch, open daily with free admission through Oct. 29! https://queensfarm.org/queens-farm-pumpkin-patch/" (Queens Farm via Twitter)
- 🌱 A world away in Flushing: "🏙 Break away from the hustle-bustle of #NYC and spend a day in #FlushingQueens! 🍂 YES, this is Flushing 🌐! Queens Botanical Garden is located right on Main Street, a short walk from the 7 train and a hop off the bus! Take in #NYCFall #FallFoliage and check out our festivities this weekend! We are open Tuesdays through Sundays, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Starting Nov. 1, we are open Tuesday-Sunday, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m." (Queens Botanical Garden via Facebook)
- 🧠 Free mental health services available: "It's OK to not be OK, especially with our society in so much flux. No one should feel alone in times like these, so that's why I've partnered with BetterHelp to connect #Queens residents to free mental health services." (Queens Borough President Donovan Richards via Facebook)
- 🕍 Commitment to Queens' Jewish community: "Great to meet today with @JCRCNY CEO @GideonTaylorNY for a discussion on our shared commitment to address hate crimes and other public safety issues while promoting bridge-building across #Queens. Hope to collaborate further on issues important to our borough's Jewish community." (Queens Borough President Donovan Richards via Twitter)
- 💀 Celebrate Dia De Los Muertos at the Queens Museum: "Join us on Oct. 29 for our annual #DiaDeLosMuertos Celebration! During this event, families, friends, and communities come together to welcome the arrival of the souls of their deceased relatives. Ofrendas, or offerings, are made for the dead to find their way back home. Organized in partnership with the La Jornada and Queens Museum Cultural Food Pantry, the Ecuadorian Film Festival EFFNY , and a host of community organizations, this day-long celebration will feature a film screening, musical and dance performances, as well as artmaking activities for the whole family. Swipe through for the full schedule and learn more here: https://qnsmu.se/diadelosmuertos" (Queens Museum via Facebook)
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Events:
- Halloween Fun at The Poppenhusen Institute (October 29)
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You're all caught up for today. I'll see you around!
— Emma Radu Fighera
About me: Emma Radu Fighera is a reporter born and raised in Queens, New York. She studied Literature and Studio Art at Hamilton College, where she helped run the only daily publication on campus, The Daily Bull newsletter. This past spring she earned her M.S. from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Queens Daily? Contact me at queens@patch.com
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